


A Watchful Eye

by Nestra



Series: Michael Guerin Week 2020 [1]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: M/M, Michael Guerin's secret pibble heart, Michael Guerin: Hufflepuff extraordinaire, guerinweek20, mgweek20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26511388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nestra/pseuds/Nestra
Summary: "You don't have to stay." The murmur comes from the hospital bed.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Series: Michael Guerin Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927573
Comments: 18
Kudos: 119





	A Watchful Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Michael Guerin Week 2020, Day 1 for the prompt "You don't have to stay."
> 
> Thanks to grit kitty for beta.

Michael hates the hospital. He hates the sanitized smell and the squeaky floors and the unnatural light. They've always been afraid of hospitals, of course, in the same way they fear doctors and scientists and all buildings dedicated to scientific truth. But Michael has spent too much time there recently, watching Isobel fear her own mind, watching Max cling to life, watching Maria determined to risk hers. Circumstances keep bringing him back to these square rooms filled with machinery and uncomfortable chairs.

"You don't have to stay." The murmur comes from the hospital bed.

"Hey, you're awake." Alex had come and gone from consciousness a few times as the morphine ebbed in his bloodstream, but he focuses a clear gaze on Michael this time. Michael shifts his chair closer to the bed and picks up the cup of water, offering the end of the straw to Alex. "Not too fast." 

Alex lets the straw slip from his lips. He'd escaped with only a few injuries—a wrenched knee, a broken rib, wounds where wooden splinters had left their mark. It could have been much worse if Michael hadn't reached out for him with his mind, pulling him out of the explosion's path.

Maybe the knee was his fault, but if that was the price for saving Alex from far worse injuries, he'll take it. And he thinks Alex will too.

"Guerin," Alex says, lifting the hand without the IV to catch his attention. "I said you don't have to stay. I'm fine. They probably won't even keep me overnight."

"How do you know? You weren't even awake last time Kyle was in here."

"Yes, I was," Alex insists, but then concedes. "Mostly awake."

"I'm not going to leave you here by yourself." Michael readjusts the chair so he can put his boot-clad feet up on the end of the bed, but Alex keeps arguing.

"I'm sure Kyle will come check in, and Greg will be here as soon as he can find someone to take his class."

"Great," Michael says. "I'll stay until he gets here."

Alex lets it drop for a few minutes, trying and failing to turn on the TV with the beat-up remote, adjusting the inclination of the bed, closing his eyes like he intends to go back to sleep. Michael settles himself, relaxing as much as he can and thumbing through the issue of Popular Mechanics that he swiped from the waiting room. 

"I know you must hate it here," Alex eventually says.

Michael shrugs. "No one likes hospitals."

"No. But you and I have especially good reasons to hate them."

"Yeah," Michael agrees. One day, he'll stop being surprised how well Alex knows him. He's looking forward to that day.

"Guerin—"

"Alex, stop."

Alex stops.

"I think you want me to stay." Michael puts his hand over Alex's where it lies on the bed. The long fingers tense under his, then relax so Michael can slip his fingers between them. "Ask me to stay."

"Okay," Alex says. "Stay."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Twitter as [@akaNestra](https://twitter.com/akaNestra) and Tumblr as [changingthingslikeleaves](https://changingthingslikeleaves.tumblr.com/).


End file.
